Daily Independent Online.
*
Tuesday, August 24, 2004.
Delta Majority Leader dragged to court
over false certificate
By
Tunke-Aye Bisina
Reporter, Asaba
The defeated All Nigeria People’s Party (ANPP) House
of Assembly election candidate for Ndokwa West constituency, Mr. Ojodume
Ogeleka, ,has dragged the House Majority Leader, Mr. Ossai Ossai, before the
Federal High Court in Benin, praying it to declare the seat vacant.
Ogeleka in the suit number FHC/B/CS/128/04 stated that the
majority leader as at the time of his election did not have the qualifications
he claimed to have possessed.
He joined the
headmaster of Eke Model School, Kwale, as co-defendants to testify to the
effect that the majority leader was a pupil of the school as at the time he
claimed he was at the Community School, Abakaliki.
The relief sought by the plaintiff includes:
• an order declaring the seat in the Delta State House
of Assembly for Ndokwa West constituency vacant on the ground that the first
defendant (Ossai) who occupies the position did not have at the time of his
election the minimum qualification for the position;
• that the first defendant falsified documents on the
basis of which he was screened for the election into the State House of
Assembly;
• an order directing the first defendant to account
for all sums of money, benefits, salaries and allowances paid to him since 1999
on the supposition that he has the requisite qualifications to sit in the State
House of Assembly; and
• a declaration that the second defendant was a pupil
at Eke Model School, Utagba-Ogbe, at a time when he alleged he was at the Community
School, Abakaliki..
The
case comes up for hearing on Friday.
